Hardboiled Scenario

Chapter 8

 

Section Chief Cho spoke while looking at the schedule board on the wall.

“What time is scheduled for?”

“It’s at 11 o’clock. The front yard will be bustling soon, huh?”

Whenever a famous suspect was summoned, reporters would camp out at the prosecution office’s photo line with cameras and microphones.

“What more could he have wanted, being so loved by fans, to do drugs… Such a waste of everything he’s achieved so far.”

It was because of curiosity and selfishness. And thinking lightly of the price of pleasure.

Muyoung lowered his gaze to the documents, scoffing at their reckless faults.

The basis of cross-examination was finding flaws in their statements and questioning them, and digging relentlessly into even the slightest suspicious corner.

Preliminary investigation was essential for that. Muyoung pushed the mug of citron tea aside and deftly picked out the documents he wanted from the pile stacked like a tomb.

The case involved a famous celebrity, the third-generation chaebol of a mid-sized company, and more. Their fame was none of Muyoung’s business, but many eyes were focused on this case.

He had already read the transcripts several times, but he might find something new.

Someone had died at the party they held. Drug overdose, underlying illness, or some external cause—he began meticulously reviewing the police investigation data from the beginning.

For a while, only the sound of flipping pages, scribbling pens, and typing occasionally echoed in the office.

Muyoung and his team were fiercely battling amidst the quiet silence. Just as Muyoung was about to move on to the next document, an unexpected knock interrupted them.

“Yes. Come in.”

Muyoung answered without taking his eyes off the papers.

“Um… Prosecutor Seo Muyoung.”

At the sound of his name, Muyoung slightly raised his gaze to identify the visitor.

“The deputy chief prosecutor wants to see you for a moment.”

Muyoung’s brow furrowed slightly at his words. It wasn’t that he was displeased by the sudden summons from a superior, but because of the person who had come to deliver the message.

“Are you sure he’s looking for me right now?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Why does Deputy Chief Prosecutor Gu want to see me?”

“I’m not sure about that. He just told me to bring you for now.”

What business could a chief prosecutor from another department, not even a direct superior, have to separately summon Seo Muyoung? Section Chief Cho and Inspector Eom also tilted their heads quizzically.

“I’m a bit busy at the moment.”

“He said to see you now.”

Muyoung bit his lower lip hard and frowned. Somehow, he had a hunch that what he was about to hear while quietly listening would be extremely unpleasant.

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Jae-in, who spent most of her work hours in the lab or autopsy room, visited the outdoor garden for the first time in a while.

Due to her busy work, she rarely went outside the building unless she was making a field trip to court as a witness.

She couldn’t even remember how many days it had been since she last photosynthesized. She suddenly felt like a mole hiding underground.

As she opened the glass door leading to the garden, the cold winter wind clawed at Jae-in’s shoulder-length hair as it passed. A harsh wind, but refreshing.

The snowflakes that had been fluttering since dawn piled up and melted repeatedly, blanketing the whole world in white.

Amidst the clean and quiet atmosphere, Jae-in inhaled deeply into the depths of her lungs.

With each breath in and out, the cold air flowed through her nasal passages. The odor of death¹ that had clung stubbornly to her entire body during the morning autopsy seemed to be swept away as well.

No matter how thoroughly she washed and applied strongly scented lotion, the odor would linger around her for days.

Even if she bathed 3 times a day—morning, afternoon, and night—it was hard to take crowded buses or subways. She wasn’t sure what the smell was, but it instinctively caused discomfort in others.

Moreover, certain intense odors become firmly imprinted in the mind and don’t easily disappear. In general, the human brain remembers scents longer than visuals.

It had already been 5 years since she completed her residency in anatomical pathology and became a medical examiner, but the smell emanating from the process of a person dying and losing their form was a stench that was hard to get used to no matter how many times she encountered it.

Especially on days like today when facing such cases, it was even more so. A female corpse was stabbed to death. Due to being left for a long time after death, decomposition had progressed significantly, and the extent of damage was also extensive.

Face, neck, hands, chest, back, waist. There were a total of 66 stab wounds remaining all over the body. It looked extremely brutal with the naked eye, but it was even more horrific when the body was opened.

It was revealed that she had been stabbed dozens of times even after her breath had ceased.

How painful and distressing it must have been.

How terrible and frightening it must have been.

How unfair and sad it must have been.

In addition to being helplessly butchered by the merciless stabbing that pierced, cut, and tore her body, did she know what her incomplete form would look like even after her breath had stopped?

Jae-in hoped that she didn’t know.

 

“They say the ears remain open for a while even after the breath stops. That’s why at the funeral, those who loved them gather and whisper a few words into their ears. Wishing for them to go to a good place without any lingering attachments to this world. The soul that has left the dead body finds comfort in that and closes its eyes peacefully.”

 

Those were the words of the funeral director who had come to place the body after the autopsy was finished.

What were the last words she heard?

If her lingering attachments could be resolved even a little through this autopsy, could her soul find rest beyond death?

Jae-in sniffled. The tip of her nose had turned bright red in the freezing temperature where even breath froze. The brief break she had taken to clear her head before writing the autopsy report had become quite long.

“I should go back in.”

Leaving behind the footprints imprinted here and there on the fluffy white snow, she went back inside the building.

As she walked down the echoing corridor and turned the corner, someone was standing in front of Jae-in’s lab at the very end.

A man leaning against the wall, gazing at the nameplate indicating the status.

A deep gray cashmere coat that reached down to his calves snugly wrapped his body, but even from a distance, his sensual physique was noticeable at a glance.

Why is that man here?

Jae-in continued walking forward by the law of inertia, but she was skeptical.

However, there was only one man she knew with that build and physique. Soon, the man’s head turned towards Jae-in, sensing her approaching presence.

Their eyes met a few meters ahead. His sharp, refreshingly elongated eyes and the somehow wild aura emanating from his jet-black irises beyond them.

The moment their gazes intertwined, her heart seemed to thump loudly. She didn’t know why. That’s why she was puzzled. Only then did Jae-in stop walking and opened her mouth with a tentative feeling.

“Seo Muyoung-ssi?”

The man whose name was called slowly detached his back from the wall. Jae-in’s gaze naturally rose to his towering height like a general.

“Where did you go? I waited for a while.”

The man’s red lips stretched long and slanted crookedly.

“How did you get here…”

She wasn’t mistaken. The man she had met at a hotel about a month ago remained vividly preserved in her memory like a biological specimen in formalin.

Her round, widened eyes trembled as they looked at the man’s face, then soon regained composure.

Jae-in’s surprised expression was quite cute.

Her pretty and cold face, like an ice princess, only changed when he was thrusting against her flesh, so seeing this different side of her made him think he did well to come find her.

“How did you find out about this place?”

Perhaps because she had only told him her name and he had tracked her down like this, her gaze and voice were full of wariness as she looked at him.

“Well, you shouldn’t give your name to just anyone. Who knows if they might be some crazy bastard, and you have no sense of caution.”

“That’s because you didn’t seem like a crazy bastard.”

“What should we do? I’m more persistent than you thought.”

“Did you come to threaten me or something?”

“Threaten? What would I gain from threatening you, Jeong Jae-in?”

“Exactly. So why are you here?”

Jae-in straightened her back and confronted him, trying not to reveal her perplexed emotions to the unfamiliar man. However, there was such a difference in their sizes that she looked just like a squirrel blocking a wolf’s path. Far from intimidating, it was at a level that looked absurd.

As expected, Muyoung chuckled and said,

“I have something to say and something to ask, and I prefer talking face-to-face if I’m going to anyway, so I came to kill two birds with one stone.”

“If you have something to say to me, let’s go outside. This isn’t a place where outsiders can just come in as they please.”

“Where to? A hotel again this time? Will you pay, Jeong Jae-in-ssi?”

“Anywhere. But I can’t give you much time. I have a scheduled appointment in an hour.”

“Then let’s do it in your office.”

Muyoung swiftly turned his body and stood in front of Jae-in’s office. He glances at the dumbfounded Jae-in and jerks his chin towards the doorknob.

“Open it. It’s not a conversation to have in the hallway.”

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Thank you for reading! ♡